Road to the College Football Playoff

Take a look back at the top four teams' biggest moments

Blake Sims drove Alabama 55 yards in the final 50 seconds of regulation for a tying field goal, and threw a 6-yard TD pass to DeAndrew White in OT to lift No. 5 Alabama to a 20-13 victory against No. 16 LSU on Nov. 8.

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Amari Cooper tied his own school record with 224 yards receiving and caught three TD passes in the top-ranked Crimson Tide's 55-44 comeback victory against No. 15 Auburn on Nov. 29 in the highest-scoring Iron Bowl.

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Blake Sims threw a pair of touchdown passes in an MVP performance that carried top-ranked Alabama to a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide routed Missouri 42-13 in the SEC title game.

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Marcus Mariota and Oregon trailed Michigan State 27-18, but the No. 3 Ducks would go on to score four unanswered touchdowns for a 46-27 victory Sept. 6 against the No. 7 Spartans.

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Utah's Kaelin Clay was celebrating with his teammates after scoring a TD. But he dropped the ball before the goal line. Oregon’s Joe Walker returned it 100 yards for a touchdown in the Ducks' 51-27 win.

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Marcus Mariota threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a career-high three scores, and Oregon assured itself a spot in the first College Football Playoff by overwhelming seventh-ranked Arizona 51-13 in the Pac-12 title game.

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Sean Maguire hung in with an up-and-down effort as Jameis Winston's replacement and Florida State escaped with a 23-17 overtime victory Sept. 20 against No. 22 Clemson.

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No. 2 Florida State bounced back from a 17-10 halftime deficit and won its 23rd consecutive game by holding off No. 5 Notre Dame 31-27 on Oct. 18.

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Freshman Dalvin Cook had 220 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in his first college start to help extend the Seminoles' winning streak to 29 games and win the ACC.

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Ohio State blew a 17-0 lead, but recovered to beat Penn State in double-overtime 31-24 on Oct. 25. Joey Bosa came up with a crucial sack to seal the win.

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J.T. Barrett threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more as No. 14 Ohio State scored almost at will against Michigan State's defense, beating the eighth-ranked Spartans 49-37 on Nov. 8.

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Ohio State's No. 3 QB looked every bit as good as the other two. Cardale Jones even did something his two all-conference predecessors could not. He led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title, throwing for 257 yards and three touchdowns in his first start.